


Two to Three

by TeraKaren



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Danny and Steve argue, Multi, Triad Verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 06:58:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8479612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeraKaren/pseuds/TeraKaren
Summary: Triad Verse AU. Charlie has been born, Joe has one foot out of town., and Steve and Danny have an argument in Danny's car on the way home.  Takes place directly after episode 2x14, Pu'olo.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For those who don't know, Triad Verse AU is an AU where triads are the norm instead of couples.

Steve pulled out of the hospital's parking lot, eyes on the road, but certain that Danny was still staring at the building even as it grew smaller in the distance and they got farther away from newborn Charlie William Edwards.

“You're something else, you know that?” Steve started out, eyes on the road as he weaved through traffic.

“Something else? What do you mean something else?” Danny asked in the same skeptical tone he used in nearly every conversation, like the only reason anyone would talk to him was to find some way to ruin his reputation.

“You know, 'something else' something else.” Steve shot an irritated glance at Danny to see that he had his head tilted, mouth pointedly open, but not speaking as if frozen and waiting for Steve to finish his thought so Danny could wholeheartedly demean it. “It's a saying Danny!”

“Oh a saying? I didn't know that. How could I have possibly have known that particular phrasing of words was a saying?” Steve rolled his eyes at Danny's theatrics “And what an articulate answer. 'Something else, something else'? Look, I know you have the speaking abilities of an ape, but could you be anymore useless in answering a question?”

“What are you getting upset for?”

“I am not getting upset-”

“It was a compliment!”

“Compliment? Compliment? Being 'something else' is not a compliment. 'Something else' is what girls say about your appreciation for vintage Hulk Hogan memorabilia or your mediocre ability to climb trees. It's a statement of pity, and I don't like it.”

“Fine Danny! I won't use it with you anymore. Happy?”

“Yes, and for the record, between the two of us, if someone is 'something else', it's the insane man who’s has jumped out of a plane in recent memory. Just saying.”

“I was wearing a parachute.” Steve said evenly, both confident in what he did and wanting to use a calm voice for Danny to calm down. He should have known better.

“'Wearing a parachute' he says. First of all, I find it disturbingly easy to imagine that you've jumped out of a plane without a parachute before, so kudos for your self preservation this time around. Good for you. And secondly, it is never not insane to jump out of any moving vehicle, much less one 13,000 feet in the sky.”

“What if you got abducted, huh, and had to jump out of a moving car to escape? What about that?” Steve raised his eyebrows at Danny and turned to look at him, watching him squirm because Steve took his eyes off the road for the few seconds.

“Then I will have clearly lost my mind,” Danny crossed his arms then pointed forward with his whole hand. “And would you keep your eyes on the road?”

“I know what I’m doing Danny.”

“Oh right, I’m sure driving without looking where you’re going was part of SEAL training.”

“As a matter of fact, it was-”

“Jesus fucking Christ!”

“-but look Danny, I know you’re deflecting. What is wrong?”

“Wrong? Why does something have to be wrong?” was Danny’s reply, which only managed to sound more defensive when Steve didn’t answer. Danny relented.

“Okay, look, I know what you’re going to say. ‘Oh Danny’s such a good guy, helping his ex-wife give birth, especially after the kid was almost his. What an upstanding guy.’”

“Yeah, basically. Is it really so bad to say that?”

“No, no it's not, but-” Danny paused for a second and Steve was listening patiently, “but it still feels like he's mine, you know? I almost got back with Rachel and Stan when we found out Rachel was pregnant, and I could see it. Watching Stan freaking out about his parenting skills and spoiling the kids rotten, walking Grace to the bus stop every morning, pulling a double shift with Rachel taking care of a newborn while Stan was out on business, baseball games, grandparents traveling to this rock in the ocean. A part of me still feels like it's going to happen, and while I was there with Rachel and sending Stan photos...I dunno. It let me believe in my little fantasy that much longer.”

Steve raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. Danny would probably yell at him to keep his eyes on the road if he wasn't avoiding looking at Steve.

“So this whole thing, it was about you, and not helping Rachel?”

“No!” He corrected quickly and turned to look at him, “and would you keep your damn eyes on the road!”

Danny crossed his arms and frowned.

“I wanted to help Rachel, okay, because she's the mother of my child, no one else was there for her, and I still care about her,” he explained carefully with his patient voice, “but I also did it for me because I-”

Danny paused, unable to get the words out. He licked his lips and got his hands up to prepare to speak again.

“God help me, I want that kid to be mine so much I can barely stand it. I want to go back and beg Rachel and Stan to just let me be the kid’s parent with them. I know that we don’t work as a triad, I know that, but it’s got to be better than raising a kid as a _couple_. They haven’t even found a third yet. It’s irresponsible.”

“You don’t mean that Danny.”

“Yes I do. Rachel knows how hard it is to take care of a newborn as a couple. Grace was six months old when we met Stan. The stability he brought was a godsend, let me tell you. I don’t know what she’s thinking doing this a second time.”

Steve stared at him as they stopped at the red light and didn’t say anything, which made Danny impatient with whatever Steve’s caveman mind was trying to convey without actually using words.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Danny,” he drew out impatiently, “ _I_ was raised by a couple. For 16 years.”

“And see how well you turned out,” Danny murmured. Steve pricked at that but chose to stay silent and Danny noticed.

“Which is apparently a sore subject for you, so I'll back off. But you didn't deny it. I'm just saying.”

Steve grit his teeth. He'd been putting up with this his whole life so it was old hat and he knew when to pick his battles, but Danny had the worst ability to get under his skin.

“I know you're set in your ways, but I didn't know you held that prejudice,” Steve let out reluctantly and as non-confrontationally as he could, but he felt himself mentally distancing himself from Danny. 

“Prejudice? You think I'm prejudiced against couples?”

“Well hell Danny, you were just lamenting the horrors of raising a child as a couple and insulting me for being raised by a couple. Sounds prejudiced to me.” Steve couldn't help adding a little bite into it though he was mostly tired from the familiar, worn out conversation.

“Believe what you want. You say prejudiced, I say practical, and that’s not my upbringing by my father and two lovely mothers speaking. That’s waking up every hour to a crying baby and still having to go to work in the morning because I couldn't afford to take time off. It's nuts! You have got to be completely batshit out of your mind to try raising a baby with only two people.”

“You know, not everyone is you and Rachel. Couples raise kids perfectly happy all the time.”

“Nobody is perfectly happy. Seriously, I love Gracie with everything I have. There is no one more important to me than her, but there were times in that first year when I would have killed a man for a few minutes of peace and quiet.”

“Really? You wanting it to be quiet? You sure you weren’t just jealous that you had to hear something other than your own voice,” Steve teased with a grin.

“Oh, haha. I would say that I can't wait for the day when you finally have to deal with the trials of raising a baby, but the idea of you procreating is honestly terrifying.”

“You saying I wouldn't be a good father?”

“No, that is not what I'm saying, Steven. I'm saying that whatever freakish, Rambo baby you have is going to be a pain in my ass, just like you.”

Steve actually laughed at that. Danny grinned when Steve laughed and the car fell silent.

“You know when I met Joe and I mistakenly, but reasonably, thought he was your dad?” Danny asked cautiously, which made Steve smile, but also sit straighter and grip the steering wheel tighter.

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure he’s not your dad?”

“Danny...”

“I'm just saying Steve. The man was close with your parents; he was your dad's sailor buddy, and we both know what that can lead to; and when your dad sent you away, he sent you to Joe who _also_ helped raise you. With how stingy your family seems to be with information, how can you be so sure that Joe wasn't you father and they just never told you?”

“That’s insane Danny,” Steve said shooting Danny a skeptical look.

“Oh, absolutely, but this is you we're talking about. You are also insane, but here I am in car with you, frankly putting my life on the line. Keep your eyes on the road!”

“My eyes are on the damn road! Happy, Danny?” Steve replied, pointing from his eyes to the road ahead to emphasize his steadfast dedication keeping his eyes on the road.

“Yes, very.”

“And there is no way my parents were in a triad with Joe. No way! The amount of-” he had to pause to reign in his frustration. “Do you know how many people joked about whose child I really was because with my ‘alternative and loose’ parents it could be anyone on the Island? I punched a kid for calling my parents whores and when my parents came in, the principle blamed my ‘unstable household’ for the fight. Why would anyone choose that Danny, huh? Answer that.”

“I can't do that, but I've been a detective for a long time and in my very experienced opinion, Joe is keeping something from you about your family. Something is not right there.”

Steve squared his jaw and stayed quiet as he tried to calm down the old emotions that had come to surface.

“You’re wrong” was all that he said before peeling off in another direction. He knew a shortcut that Danny was not going to enjoy.


End file.
